The ball
by SadHOuse
Summary: Bubblegum preparing herself for an upcoming dance party .


Princess Bubblegum was in her room that night , twisting this way and that way whilst studying her new dress .

There was meant to be a ball the night tommorow . A big one .

People from all over the Candy Kingdom had been invited and so were many other friends of hers . They were also noted beforehand that this was a " fancy party " occasion . Where everyone must arrive in a tuxedo or in the dressed in a gorgeous gown .

**~000~**

The princess had the servants spent weeks working on her new dress .

Now , she had spent hours staring at it , looking at the exhibit in many different angles and many different directions .

The length of the new dress was long enough to reach her ankles . It glistened with glitter and glowed with it's grey silk . The dress hung tightly against her body , and it showed clearly the curves that lined upon herself . It's sleeves covering nearly all the way up the length of her arms and it had frills at each end . The dress looked nice , she thought to herself . She believed that there was never a time when she had looked better .

The princess worked hard with the intentions of having her become the most appealing one of all . Because she was of royal , and she was also the main character in the upcoming event .

There was also another reason why the princess must look her best tommorow . She had a new purpose in mind , one that she must achieve . There's this new boy in Ooo , a human , she heard them say . And he owned a couragious heart and he was of the good-kind , one of the gentlemans , she heart them say . He came out of nowhere and he strides all-over the land of Ooo , rescuing people from all-sorts of danger and he occasionally _saves princesses _too . He was also quite good-looking , the people had carefully mentioned .

And the princess must have this boy's heart . She would have a knight courting her and she had a light chuckle thinking how easy she could swoop this boy off his feet with this new look of hers . It's about time the princess had someone to court her , and a brave , handsome knight seems to fit the description quite well . Once again does the princess laugh at her soon-to-be triumpth .

Satisfied with the garment that she would proudly be presenting tomorrow , the princess reaches over for the glass of wine that laid there on her dresser . She had trouble doing so , though the garment itself was absolutely gorgeous , it requires a painstaking amount of effort to move around in . Apparently , breathing was also a chore .

With bits of struggle , the princess finally was able to reach for the glass and adjust it slowly to her lips .

**~000~**

She had just about one gulp of the red liquid when out of nowhere , she heard the sound of someone knocking .

_Tap tap . Tap tap _. Does the sound goes , it knocked on something which appears to be glass . At first the princess's heart started racing , because she does not know what it might be , or where it came from . Peppermint Butler doesn't call upon the princess at this hour of the night .

_Tap tap _. Third time does the sound resonated . Then she figured out eventually where it came from . Holding her breath against her non-stop pounding chest , she walks over to the two glass doors of her which leads to the balcony .

Carefully , she uses the back of one hand to unravel the curtain which covers the door . She looked outside .

Nothing . Nothing but the pitch black of the sky and the dark silver of the balcony .

Then _tap tap _again it goes .

The princess immidiately darts her eyes to where the sound resonated . Below .

What she saw stopped her heart from racing just as fast as how it started . She sighed with relief and breathes out : " Oh , Marcy ."

A little bat wingling it's wings and smiling foolishly , almost like one of an innocent child , looking upon the now huge princess with excitement and thrill in it's eyes .

" Hanging out late at night again , Marcy? " . The princess asks whilst leaning against the railing , it was quite cold at this time of the night , but still she enjoyed spending time with the bat sitting on the edge of the balcony .

" Well , i am a nocturnal . What about you , staying up so late ? Isn't the princess suppose to be gettting her beauty sleep by now? "  
" Don't make me into some kind of spoiled mistress , Marcy . You know i don't like getting treated like that ." The princess saids with her eyebrows pulling up together , her hand swinging the glass of wine around as if it was her very own royal scepter .

As another gulp of wine went down her throat again , the princess continues :

" And if you must know , i was preparing for the ball which is being held tomorrow ."

Her eyes gesturing down onto the new dress , she saids with a smirk which is full of confident :

" What so you think? "

Her small little red beady eyes studied the dress , moving up and down along the curves which it laid upon the princess's body . Then with a calm , casual tone , she says :" It's okay ."

Stunned with the remark made by the small bat . The princess eye lids rose higher than usual , then she began , the surprise shown clear within her voice :

" Okay? " She took in a breath :" I'll have you know that this is the finest dress made in all of Ooo . It was quilted by the finest tailors and made in the finest material . They've spent weeks designing this dress alone and _**it is **_, i tell you , the finest of garments ever made and ever to be worn ."

" That's your opinion ." The small bat saids with a gentle smile .

" Or are you saying that it is _**i**_ . That doesn't look nice in this dress? Is my body really that atrocious , vampire ? That you mock this slendid creation of a garment because it is me whom is wearing the dress , and not someone else? ." Her eyebrows held up high as she waits for the vampire to respond .

" No ." Two bat eyes staring down , her voice dropping down timidly . But it's tone still calm and clear :

" I didn't mean that . And if you're asking for my opinion about your curves , then i think it's looks just nice , princess ." Bubblegum face grew hot at the sudden compliment made upon herself . " It's perfect , and you're perfect . But . . . " Her little bat legs starting to kick back and forth and she speaks: " I think , maybe you're abit off with that ," she inhaled a large sum of breath "_ immensely beautiful dress _of yours ," At this part of what the bat had said , the princess chuckled lightly .

" I didn't mean to say that it's doesn't look great or anything , but . . . " She turned her eyes up to look at the princess ," This dress , Bonnie , it doesn't seem abit much like you , doesn't it? I don't think the casual you would be into all these glitter and fanciness and all these _frills_ that much ." Her eyes motioning over to the tip of your sleeves . " Are you even comfortable in a garment that seems to be holding you so tight ?" One small , thin bat arms gesturing over to her body , while her face grew even hotter than before , so much that she is feeling the heat of it down the black of her neck .

" Why do you feel the need to show off your figure like that ? The Bonnie i knew was still beautiful , sometimes even more when she's wearing the clothes that she's comfortable in ." Then she turned away , her face bat face seemingly growning redder by the second too . " I think that the most important thing , is that you stay true to what you are , Bonnie ."

_Oh god , you're blushing . Oh god , you're both blushing . _

No one has ever told the princess that before . No , no one has ever talk to her like that also . But she's happy , and suddenly she felt warmer inside , seeing how she had such an honest friend .

Yes , _sweet and honest ._ Then she smiled , unintentionally , unexpectantly , but the curves of her lips seemed to be pulling up within it's own will . Displaying exactly how the princess is feeling inside right now . And she muttered quietly :

" Thanks , Marcy ."

Turning the other way , the tiny bat seems to be blushing even harder now :

" Whatever , Bonnie , stop making a big deal out of nothing ! "

With the red of her face finally settling down , she turned over and say :

" So , am i invited to the ball or what? Or am i too much of a menace to come? ." You chuckled and said .

" You're invited , Marcy . Of course you're invited . We've been friends for who-knows-how-long now? "

" Yeah , i was there when you were still a innocent little rascal ."

Laughing again :" Yes , i remember . The first time we meet and all ."

" The minute you found out i was a vampire , you were all hating on me and despising me like i'm some loose criminal or something ."

" Yes , that part i do recall ."

" Sometimes , you even tried to get rid of me . Not so as inoccent as you seemed , right ?" She shot the princess a look . " And when you got over the whole ' hating on the vamps ' biz , you started to experiment me and testing stuff on me."

" You were the very first vampire i ever encountered . I was interested ."

" Interested enough to do all sort of chemical experiment and documenting me into this notebook you had on you ! But , hey ! We had alot of fun , didn't we? ."

A smile popped up on the tiny bat lips : " Got into alot of trouble too . When you insisted we go on a quest to discover new stuff for your research , and how we blew up the castle and set things on fire and made a mess all the time . I swore that Peppermint Butler guy of yours hated my guts so hard at first ."

She gave the princess a light knudge :

" But hey , it was heeps of fun right ? And look at you now ! All grown up and all wearing new dresses and all making yourself look good and all !" Laughing between sentense , she starts again : " We went throughloadsof stuff right? Man ! i'm like the oldest friend ya got! ".

_Yes , and maybe even the closest _. The princess thought to herself .

" Will the guest be all freaked out about me though? None of them had ever met a vampire before right? And i'm like the first one ever to sneak around so close to this Candy Kingdom . Better try to make a good impression. "

" Yes , well , i think that they might get used to it . Vampires were known to be dangerous , but that was centeries ago , and you don't seem much threatening yourself ."

" Hah , we'll see if that's a good thing or not . I've hung around Candy people all the time that it's getting me all mush up inside ."

" Oh ! You were a soft-hearted one from the very beginning , you vampire you ."

" Yeah , not many vamps like me out there isn't it ? We're all suppose to be cold-hearted , dangerous , despicable monsters from the very beginning , not like me , all messing around hanging out with Candy people and you all the time ."

" Yes . Not much like you indeed ."

" But , don't get confuse with your little princess head there , you know? I may not be all vicious and killing people everywhere and what not , but i'm still a vampire , i can still destroy and kill and slaughter people without even trying , so don't misjudge little old me too quick . Cuz you know , deep down i'm still labeled as a monster and all ."

Her mouth hung open abit as she took in the air she needed for her next angry strike :

" You're not a monster , Marceli-"

" Yeah , whatever , can you hand over that glass of wine over there , i'm getting kind of parch and it' looking kind of inviting , Bonnie ." The princess gave her tiny friend a look , one of her eyebrows raising up at her tone .

" Pleease ! Bonnie . For your little-old bat friend ." And there she made the custest bat face ever in the entire history of Ooo . Then the princess surrendered , and with a sigh , her hand moved the glass closer to the little bat and she motioned it carefully on the bat's tiny mouth .

" Yeah , right there , thanks Bonnie ."

Halfway between gulps , she stops and asks :

" So , why ya trying so hard to look hot for tommorrow anyways ? It's not like ya first ball or party or something ."

" Well , you're right . It's not my first ." Suddenly , she felt a hesitation from telling the rest of the bid . But then decided to spill it out anyway :

" So . . . Tommorow at the ball , every one's invited . . ."

" Mhm." Marceline responces whilst drinking from the huge glass of wine .

" Including this . . . this new boy ." She swallowed a gulp and continued : "-and people say that he's known to be kind . And sweet . And brave and everything . . . I never met him before . But i intended to-"

_Smash_ .

The princess jumped . For some reason her little bat friend seemed to have let go of the glass .

It fell and had broken to a million pieces across the concrete of the balcony , with it's debris lying , spilled everywhere next to her feet , and the unfinished red liquid which had laid inside , now splattered all over the ground .

" Marceline , why did-" .

She stop mid-sentence when she turned around and caught Marceline staring at her , now in the vampire's true form . Standing straight on the rail .

When she changed the princess did not noticed nor how swiftly she did it . But these were neither the first thing which she noticed first .

What caught her mind first was the vampire's eyes .

It had had the shade of a golden yellow . With all it's joy and laughter brightened within it's pupil .

Now it somehow had turned into these two dark , red pupils . Emotionless , cold and dead within it's sole . And the pair seemed to be staring right at the princess . They felt cold . As though the princess were just a mere servant , and the vampire was a cruel master , and she did something wrong that had offended her somehow .

Even though she is the princess's closest friend, and even though she had never once been afraid of the vampire . Now she does .

Chills started to run down her spine and she started to feel frightened like never before .

The vampire stares at the princess like she was a stranger , like she would hurt her , would deminish her , would torture her and would cast pain upon her . And she would stand there and watch her suffer , with those cold merciless expression . And all that would happen swiftly . Easily . Quietly . And it would happen so fast that the princess wouldn't even had the chance to scream . And it would happen without the vampire even trying .

_Like she is a monster _. Suddenly that thought appears within the midst of the princess's mind , within the midst of her fright .

" Marceline , why are you-". She started again , almost pleading this time .

The vampire turned away and mutters something angrily , something the princess could not catch . There's an expression coming across her face now . Anger ? Disatisfaction ? No wait . . . Pain ?

" Marceline ?" . A helpless whisper escaped Bonnibel's voice .

And the vampire spoke , with her voice clear and stern :

" Forget it ."

Then the vampire straightened up , closed her eyes , and swiftly dropped herself backwards into the midst of the dark knight .

The princess panicked , she knew that vampires could float . But the way that Marceline just jumped off like that , you fear she might no-

Now staring into the absolute pitch black which seemed like never-ending below , she sees nothing .

Nothing . . . But different from the nothing that she saw outside the balcony before , now she _truly _sees nothing . And she felt , not of fright anymore , but just the vast of one's true emptyiness and like the darkness before herself , a huge sensation of nothingness has filled the insides of her .

After standing there staring at pitch black for a while longer . The princess slithered down the rail slowly , painfully like a weak , vulnerable old rack of cloth almost . She knelt down , hands picking up the pieces of broken glass . And she cut her fingers whilst doing so but she did not care . She did not stop picking up the broken pieaces . Tears started to roll down her cheeks and it ran over all the previous powder and makeup she had put on . She started sobbing more and she sobbed alone , with no one else around to comfort , to know .

And just like pieces of the painfully sharp debris that the princess is picking up , she felt just as similar as broken inside .

**~000~**

Standing straight , before the most beautiful person that you had ever met . But with her beauty handing over mindlessly to whom she hadn't even met . To someone brave , someone kind , someone adored by all . And someone that's just so much _better_ than a monster which is yourself . Turning away and feeling more pain than you had ever felt before :

"So in the end , the monster still gets leftout afterall " .

You had whispered .

~ saDHouse


End file.
